Last night’s Star Wars Rebels season 3 premiere was another typically fantastic addition to the franchise. The show came on and went off like every other episode, but with one distinct difference! Dave Filoni is no longer listed as the Supervising Director.
How is that you say? Wasn’t he at Celebration Europe a couple of months ago, giving fans the lowdown on season 3? Well it seems the move is not a demotion. He is not going anywhere. Justin Ridge has taken over the Supervising Director slot, and Filoni has moved into more of a creative overseer (think George Lucas, to the Clone Wars).
The move gives Filoni more control over the story and concepts, without having to worry about the day-to-day grind of getting each show out.
In fact one Lucasfilm employee tweeted the following after the news was released, to ease the minds of fans…
Dave is still just as involved as ever – overseeing all aspects of Star Wars Rebels production as Executive Producer and occasionally directing episodes. In many ways, mentoring Justin and moving him into the role as Supervising Director has made it possible for Dave to be even more immersed in the writing and story structure of the show as well as creatively overseeing future animation development. Justin started with Lucasfilm Animation on the first season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars and worked with Dave before that on Avatar: The Last Airbender, so they’ve been working together for quite some time.
One key element to take away from the tweet above is the “overseeing future animation development”. It has been rumored that Rebels was always going to be a three year type of project. This is season three, so…
Now comes the chance for lots of fan speculation, on what the next project, or projects will be… Leave your thoughts in the comment section below!
